The quarter of a percentage point rise alone is unlikely to push your finances over the edge.

Interest rates are still low by the standards of the past 20 years, even if the trend has been mainly upwards since late 2003.

In addition, in recent years more Britons have chosen mortgages where the interest rate is fixed for several years instead of variable rate deals, which are very susceptible to Bank of England base rates moves.

As a result, the large numbers of people with fixed-rate deals will be unaffected by the Bank's rate rise.